Table of Contents
Foreword Gary Snyder xi
About Karst Mountains xiii
I The Old Country
Poem from Laos 3
Our Hour of Expatriation 6
Laos, 1977 8
Open Hands and the Man with One Leg Shorter 9
The Passing at the Canyon 11
The Old Man by the Road They Go 12
The People beneath a Moon before the River 14
The Ritual before Crossing the River 15
Something about Yaw 17
Before, When We Were Not Yet Here 20
Leoi, Thailand, 1979: Re-Entrance to the City 22
Hmong Women: Their Hearts 25
China Rebirth 26
Contributors' Poems
Somewhere in the Cosmos Burlee Vang 27
Presentation Sandra McPherson 29
II Home and the Sierras
By the Lake in Which I Love You 33
Spokane, Washington, 1980 35
Eating 36
Off Highway 99 37
Hornitos in the Morning 38
An Early Morning Hike in Tuolumne 39
View from Eagle Peak 40
On Birthing 41
Winter 42
On Cedar Ridge, California 43
Thoughts for My Wife 44
These Would Have Been Days to Be 45
Contributors' Poems
Afterland Soul Vang 46
All Is Present Yu-Han Chao 47
III Ashes, Dreams, and Rebirth
The Snow Leopard Son 51
At the End of 5 Mile Creek Road 52
The World Has Always Been beyond Me 53
Undulating Sin 54
The One Sitting on His Wooden Horse 55
The Forest Fire near Mt, Shasta, June 2017 57
How Two Springs Can Grow Fins 58
The Poem Gary Snyder Wrote 59
Butterfly Hair in the Sun 60
The Doe, the Brown Trout, and the Gray Squirrel 61
Little Arrival 62
The Whitetails 64
Contributors' Poems
A Love Poem Soul Vang 65
Mother of Myths Khaty Xiong 67
IV Mountain Spirits
Inclusions: What is Not Me 71
The Spirit and the Undead 73
Days with Sunlight 74
The Dog and the Lady 75
A Memory in November 76
Poem to Sin Myriad 77
Manzanita Before Winter 78
Daim Nplooj / The Leaf 79
Release 81
Poem to the Setting Sun 82
Hours of Hunger 83
Karst Mountains Will Bloom 84
Poem No One Likes 85
Contributors' Poems
Monument by Mai Der Vang 88
The Jump Jer Xiong 90
A Poet's Note 91
Notes 94
Thanks To 95
Acknowledgments 97
About Cover Artist Boon Ma Yang 98
About Pos Moua 99
About the Contributing Writers 100
Blue Oak Press Literature Series 103
A Note on the Type 104
